Bad hair days, overly woolly, the ladies were in dire need of a hair do!
There is a problem with only having 5 sheep. They need sheering every year but few sheerers will come and do the job for just a little handful of sheep. Not worth the effort. I have tried this sort of thing before, the D.I.Y. on the clipping front – SO not happening EVER again.
So it was great the other evening when Ian turned up with his dog Jess to ‘do the business’.
A large strong young man with sheers in his hand, the sheep were horrified. There was much skittering about, jumping of fences and going like the proverbial clappers in the opposite direction.
They had no chance. This was an all out team effort. Idgy looks like she’s competing in ‘One Man And His Dog’, or rather ‘One Girl And Someone Else’s Dog’.
There is sage advice from old Jim the farmer. Note the traditional blue overall coat and good old flat cap, this is the real McCoy! Couldn’t resist fading out this pic a bit, just feel it has so much character. You can almost hear his Ayrshire accent as he tells Ian sheepy tales and they compete on worst sheering stories.
Ugh just SO undignified! Bet this doesn’t happen in the John Frieda Salons!
After about an hour of chasing, catching, sheering and much falling about laughing, there is a mountain of wool, and hey ho, it’s not attached to the sheep!
And five much smaller and slimmer sheepees. Don’t they look cute newly ‘done’. They look so clean and velvety. They look at us with baleful expression. Hmmmm you might have caught us this time, but your card is marked, we won’t be so obliging the next time…….
All this and only one casualty, a nick on the bum that antiseptic deals with. This is a huge improvement on when we tried to do this lark ourselves a few years back. There was blood everywhere – and not from the sheep. There was rodeo riding of sheep when they bolted mid trim. There was the loss of sheers, temper, dignity and at various points – the will to live.
Some things are best left to the experts. Thanks so much Ian, you are a total star. I’m sure the sheepees think so too now that they’re not dragging round all that extra weight. Okay, so they’re not exactly grinning, but then sheep aren’t known for their facial frivolity.
Until next year……
Karon x
Are you sure that is Jim? Looks rather like Prince Charles to me!!
Jane x